Monthly Archives: April 2018

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Hailed as “The Best Thrash Metal Album Of All Time” (VH1), legendary thrash metal trailblazers MEGADETH will continue to celebrate the band’s 35th anniversary with a deluxe re-issue of their revolutionary debut album Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good! The band have partnered with Century Media and Legacy Recordings for release on 08 June 2018 in North America and Europe, and in Japan on 06 June 2018 via Sony Japan.

Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good: The Final Kill has been completely restored to Dave Mustaine’s intended version. Remixed by veteran metal mixer Mark Lewis (Trivium, Death Angel, Devildriver, Whitechapel) and re-mastered by Ted Jensen for an optimal listening experience, the 2018 version reveals previously unheard parts and performances throughout the record, including a missing drum performance found during the mixing sessions. This rare gem includes the full original album, along with seven live audio tracks from VHS tapes found in Mustaine’s attic!

In addition to the bonus live tracks, the re-issue also features MEGADETH’s 1984 three-track demo and the previously removed cover of “These Boots,” which has been added to the record with re-cut vocals true to Lee Hazelwood’s version.

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“Vinyl sounds the way music is supposed to sound. There’s friction when the needle meets the groove; it’s a tactile thing in the room, not some digital process. The needle vibrates in the groove and creates natural distortion; the sound of the guitars, the thump of the kick drum, the voice, everything sounds more real and present; like the band is in the room with you.”

“When I was around 10, my brother got this orange mod plastic turntable for his birthday, from Sears I think, and that was my first real portal into the world of vinyl. My parents had a stereo, but that was theirs, and this was all ours. He would bring home records and we would hang out in his room and listen to them over and over. I remember he had Changes One Bowie, Elton John’s Greatest Hits, some early Beatles, Eddie Kendricks, Neil Young, AC/DC “Let There Be Rock,” and I remember vividly the day he first brought home Tom Petty—we really connected with that record. The songs felt like they were written by someone we knew and could relate to.

I grew up in a college town, so once I started buying my own records, there were several cool record stores that I loved going to. And not just when I had money to buy something, but as a place to hang out and spend time. I could spend hours there, just flipping through the bins, taking the records out and looking at the art and reading the liner notes.

And the guy behind the counter had great taste and would turn me on to new stuff that he thought I’d like. I discovered so much great music there that I wouldn’t have found as soon otherwise, like Brian Eno, The Clash, R.E.M., XTC, The Jam, Pere Ubu, Meat Puppets and so many other great bands. Looking back, it was really formative for me musically. (I’m writing this on Record Store Day, by the way, so please support your local record store!)

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Press Play is our Monday recap of the new and FREE tracks received last week to inform the next trip to your local indie record store.

PHOSPHENES – People You Love Become Ghosts
In Sonitus Lux – Of Zen And Texas
David Hopkins – Let Somebody Inside
Youth in a Roman Field – I Saw You
Jon Patrick Walker – The Guilty Party
the black watch – The Paper Boats

TVD SINGLE OF THE WEEK:
Isla Craig – The Becoming

Joel Levi – Will We Ever Change?
Stephen Karl & Handsome Animals – Shelter
Sleepspent – Come Smile With Me
Good Rats – Back To My Music
Tom Baker & the Snakes – Doll Eyes
Nytrix – Until the Edge

So I’m back with my close personal friend Herman Melville, author of the world’s first how-to manual on sperm whaling (Herm: “I swiped the title from a Led Zep song!”) and Herman’s–how’s the best way to put it?–a bit riled up.

The last time we got together Herman proceeded to drink about a dozen 40s of Haffenreffer Private Stock malt liquor (my old pig farmer pal Billy Harrison SWORE it had mescaline in it, but based solely on taste I suspect the secret ingredient is ASS) before delivering a rather dazed and confused sermon on the virtues of the Backstreet Boys’ “Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).” And believe it or not he actually won me over.

But not tonight. Because tonight he’s REALLY wasted (“Gimme another Haffen-Wrecker! NOW!”) and all he wants to do is tell big fish stories about some album by a band called High Tide I’ve never heard of and don’t particularly want to hear. But old Ahab is insistent and what’s more he’s brought the fucking album with him, and when Herman’s on a tear it’s best to just get out of his way.

But before he can put it on I snatch the empty sleeve out of his hands and say, “What is this shit? Sea Shanties? I ain’t listenin’ to no fucking sea shanties! I HATE folk music!” And Herman’s like, “These ain’t your old harpooner’s sea shanties of the sort you’ll find on Paul Clayton’s Whaling and Sailing Songs (From the Days of Moby Dick)! NOBODY likes that shit! I nearly PUKED every time I was forced to listen to “The Maid of Amsterdam” during my whaling days on the Acushnet! It’s the reason I jumped ship in the Marquesas Seas! This is rock’n’roll! With just a whiff of prog to it but not enough so’s you’d want to make it walk the plank!”

“I don’t believe you!” I shout. “What do you know about music anyway? You’re a goddamned customs inspector!” “Retired!” bellows Herman, who is touchy on the subject. “And wrote a book called The Pizza Tales!” I shout, just to dig the knife in a bit deeper. “That’s The PIAZZA Tales!” he roars. “Now get outta my beard and listen to this shit!” He puts it on, muttering, “Came out in ‘69. One of the first rock albums with a violin on it. Blah blah blah blah… “

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Intervention Records and Matthew Sweet are proud to introduce an amazing NEW Artist-Approved reissue series, Matthew Sweet 1991-1995! In 2018 Intervention is releasing Double-LP Artist-Approved Expanded Editions of Sweet’s Trilogy of ’90s Power-Pop classics, Girlfriend (IR-021), Altered Beast (IR-011) and 100% Fun (IR-019), plus the “Son of Altered Beast” (IR-024) 7-song EP, which appears on vinyl for the very first time!

Each Expanded Edition Double-LP set of the three classic studio albums is loaded with extra tracks not included on the original LPs- 6 extra tracks each on Girlfriend and Altered Beast, and 7 on 100% Fun. So many of these songs are either appearing on vinyl for the very first time or seeing official release for the very first time. And for Sweet completists, these LPs are the most extensive collection of extra tracks compiled and packaged with the studio albums the songs were recorded for!

All four LPs are 100% analog mastered from the ORIGINAL ANALOG MASTER TAPES by Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound. The original 15-song repertoires for Girlfriend and Altered Beast are for the first time spread across three LP sides for maximum sound quality and the ability to PLAY LOUD! The ultra-quiet 180-gram LPs are pressed at boutique press, RTI in Camarillo, CA.

The jacket art for Matthew Sweet 1991-1995 has been faithfully restored by IR’s art director Tom Vadakan. The three Expanded Editions feature beautiful “Old Style” gatefolds printed onto heavy blanks and film laminated by the wizards at Stoughton Printing. Son of Altered Beast features a single-pocket “Old Style” gatefold by Stoughton as well.

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Oh groovy of groovies! Procol Harum MADE the Summer of Love with their immortal debut single “A Whiter Shade of Pale.” If I recall correctly John Lennon used to pump it out the windows of his psychedelic Rolls Royce while driving stoned immaculate down happening Carnaby Street, and why not? The sound is heavy as Bach, the lyrics are, like, deep, man, and listening to it is like slow dancing your way across the bottoms of tangerine seas while the sun of the real world beats on the waves above you a million, trillion miles away.

John Lennon again: “You play it when you take some acid and wooooo.”

A couple of months later Procol Harum gave us their debut LP (and one of the finest albums of 1967), Procol Harum. Released by my favorite label, Regal Zonophone, Procol Harum is every bit as groovy as “A Whiter Shade of Pale,” which didn’t make it onto the U.K. release but was included on the U.S. one. Procol Harum can be divided into heavy tunes and pop lightweights but it doesn’t have a loser on it unless you include the silly “Good Captain Clack,” which the folks at Regal Zonophone had the good sense to jettison from the U.S. version in favor of “A Whiter Shade of Pale.”

People talk about Procol Harum being a slice of proto-prog and I suppose they’re right; organist Matthew Fisher liked his dead composers every bit as much as Keith Emerson. But–but!–he never lowered himself to slavish imitation but instead alchemized the sounds of all those defunct powdered wig-wearing geniuses in such a way that you never feel like you’re being forced to inhale some moribund Beethoven’s classical gas.

Take “Repent Walpurgis.” It may have been built on the moldering corpses of Charles-Marie Widor and Johann Sebastian Bach but what I hear is one cool instrumental; sure, Fisher waxes classical on the organ, but he’s playing it with soul, and soul is what differentiates this baby from your typical ELP Mussorgsky plod. The proof? His organ sounds right at home with Robin “Bridge of Sighs” Trower’s truly astounding guitar caterwaul. Fisher’s more playful, too; his organ on the jaunty “She Wandered Through the Garden Fence” may fall under the label “neoclassical,” but it’s also a lot of fun.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Stop Handgun Violence (SHV) is a non-profit, tax-exempt organization founded in 1994 by successful businessman, John Rosenthal, and the late Michael Kennedy. SHV works to prevent firearm violence through public awareness, education, policy advocacy, and law enforcement strategies—without banning guns. In Massachusetts, we’re making a real difference. Since 1994, we have passed the most comprehensive gun laws in the nation and have drastically reduced gun injuries, homicides, and accidents. Massachusetts’ gun violence prevention efforts are a model for the nation.

Since its start, Stop Handgun Violence has increased public awareness about the epidemic of gun violence. SHV developed several effective media and public education campaigns, the centerpiece of which is one of the largest billboards in the nation. Other initiatives have included distributing trigger locks, a nationwide billboard campaign, partnering with after school programs, and media productions with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Department of Justice.

SHV was the lead advocate for the Massachusetts Gun Control Act of 1998 (Chapter 180), the most comprehensive gun violence prevention law in the country. This common-sense law mandates safe storage, manufacturing standards, strict gun dealer regulations, safety training requirements, and effective licensing procedures. SHV continues to support legislation that keeps guns out of the hands of children and criminals.

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“There are VERY few things I did when I was 5 that I still do now. I still brush my teeth. I still tell my mom I love her. And I still buy vinyl. “Take it Away” on 45 by Paul McCartney was my first. “A Brief History of Amazing Letdowns” on 10″ by Lilys (after quite a search) was my last.”

“Around the time I bought my first, my sister got “Thriller” on 45 and because it was so long the grooves were TINY. And if you even breathed on it, it would skip. My dad said, “I’ve got a song longer than that on 45” and showed us Don McLean’s “American Pie,” which was so long it faded out halfway through on side A and faded BACK IN on side B!

My dad was into building speaker cabinets and he let me hold a speaker that was producing sound before he installed it. I still remember watching the needle tracking on the grooves, my eyes following along the wires to the speaker cradled in my hands. Seeing it move. Feeling the air and the vibrations. Hearing it create MUSIC. It absolutely enthralled me.

People assume I’m into vinyl because I’ve been a hip-hop DJ since the mid ’90s, but they’re wrong. I was already into vinyl long before I was a DJ. The reason? Because vinyl is inherently social. All of my fond memories of vinyl involve other people.

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